Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 49
April 12th, 2010
– Bo Outlaw
Outlaw last played in the 2007-08 season, when he played two games at the start of the year with the Magic before being waived in November. He now works for the team as a community ambassador.
– Andre Owens
NBA veteran and Bulgarian national team member Andre Owens (true story about the Bulgaria thing by the way) started the year in Turkey, playing for Turk Telekom. In four EuroCup games, Owens averaged 20 minutes, but only 5 ppg, and his averages in the Turkish league were a similar 21 mpg/7.1 ppg. Owens’s minutes were hardly consistent, and in one game, Turk Telekom coach Meric Cakiroglu turned to him down the stretch of a game in which Telekom were losing a big lead and Owens had not yet played, leading to the awkward spectacle of seeing Owens stretching on the court as an offensive possession unfolded. Not good.
Turk Telekom released Owens after being knocked out of the EuroCup, and he moved to Russia. In six Russian league contests for Lokomotiv Kuban, Owens is averaging 9.3 points per game.
– Larry Owens
Oral Roberts graduate Larry Owens was a member of the Hornets summer league roster in 2008. He must have done something right, because he earned a repeat viewing in 2009. And he must have done something right there, because he earned a training camp contract with the team this year. After not making the regular season roster, Owens went to the D-League, where he averaged 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in all 50 regular season games for the Tulsa 66ers. The 66ers just swept the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the first round of the D-League playoffs, and Owens averaged a further 16/7 in the process. Not bad for a former Belgian leaguer.
– Olumide Oyedeji
Olumide Oyedeji spent a second year in China, but this year wasn’t as spectacular as the last. He did average 14.1 points and 12.6 rebounds in only 32 minutes per game, which is far from slouchy, but it’s also only about 60% of what he averaged in 2008-09. OO has not yet gone to Puerto Rico this summer, but, based on past form, it could yet happen.
– Robert Pack
Pack last played in the 2004-05 season with Lithuanian giant Zalgiris, where his most significant contribution was this rather well-placed elbow. He appeared out of the blue on the Raptors training camp roster in 2006, but did not make the team and never played again. In retirement, Pack first became a travel agent, but is now working his way up the coaching ranks, and is currently an assistant with the New Orleans Hornets.
– David Padgett
Louisville centre David Padgett is spending his second season in the LEB Gold, this time with U.B. La Palma. He is rebounding better than ever before, grabbing 7.2 rpg in only 24 mpg, but he’s also scoring only 9.2 ppg while fouling 3.4 times. La Palma are exactly middle in the LEB Gold with a .500 record, despite having both Padgett and his former Louisville team mate Juan Palacios, who is averaging 13.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
– Scott Padgett
Scott Padgett’s NBA career ended abruptly after a trade to the Memphis Grizzlies and a subsequent waiving. After, that, he signed in Spain for about two weeks with CB Granada, but this was back in April 2007. Nowadays, along with Tony Delk, Padgett is working with John Calipari at Kentucky as a “coach in training.”
– Milt Palacio
Palacio didn’t catch on with a team until January 2010, when he joined Greek team Kavala/Panorama. In 13 games for the team he has averaged 9.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He is shooting 32-67 from two-point range, so he can’t have bottom-rimmed more than three lay-ups per game.
– Theo Papaloukas
You really ought to know who Theo Papaloukas is. He’s the 6’7 Greek point guard machine. Still with Olympiacos, and currently the second-highest paid player in Europe, Papaloukas is averaging 6.1 points, 3.7 assists and 2.4 assists in 21 minutes per game in the Greek league (as well as 58% shooting), and 7.0/5.2 on 54% shooting in 23 minutes per game in the EuroLeague. If those numbers don’t overwhelm you, then that’s a demonstration of how numbers can lie. And it also doesn’t tell the story of how good the other half of Olympiacos’s point guard tandem, Milos Teodosic, is.
Their third point guard, former Ohio State player Scoonie Penn, has totalled only 22 points and 7 assists in 211 minutes. I realise elite European teams are convinced of the virtues of playing three point guards every night, but may I suggest that it’s not what Olympiacos need right now.
– Adam Parada
Mexican national team centre Adam Parada has spent the season in Mexico. He averaged 11.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in LNBP play for Halcones Xalapa, who won the LNBP championship this year. Parada was also a part of the stacked Los Angeles Lightning roster last year, who won the IBL championship; needless to say, Adam Parada brings home titles.
– Jeremy Pargo
Jannero’s brother went to summer league with the Orlando Magic, but failed to get a contract offer. He has since spent the entire year in Israel playing for Galil Gilboa. In 20 games, Pargo has averaged 14.9 points and 4.7 assists per game (tied for sixth in the league), shooting 36% from three-point range and (just about) taking more threes than twos. In that respect, he’s just like Jannero.
Finally…..
– Smush Parker
Parker is signed in China. See this. His team, Guandong, have made it to the CBA finals, and Parker has been big in the playoffs. He averaged 10.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 4.0 steals in a three-game sweep of Bayi in round one, and then exploded for 31.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 4.8 apg and 5.0 spg in the semi-final series against Shanghai that Guandong won 3-1. Smush Parker is leading his team to a title. Much like he did with the Lakers. No, wait, that’s wrong.
